In general, the processing of a color light-sensitive material essentially consists of a color development process and a desilvering process. In particular, a silver halide color photographic material which has been imagewise exposed to light is subjected to a color development process where exposed silver halide is reduced by a color developing agent to produce silver. The resulting oxidized color developing agent reacts with a color coupler to produce a dye image. The color light-sensitive material is then desilvered wherein silver thus produced is oxidized by a bleaching agent and then dissolved and removed by a silver ion complexing agent commonly known as a fixing agent. Thus, the photographic material which has been subjected to these processes forms only dye images thereon. The practical development process comprises auxiliary processes for maintaining the photographic or physical qualities or for preserving the images besides the above-described two principal processes, i.e., color development and desilvering. Examples of baths used in these auxiliary processes include a film hardening bath for preventing excess softening of a light-sensitive layer during processing, a stop bath for effectively stopping the development reaction, an image stabilizing bath for stabilizing images, and a defilming bath for removing the backing layer.
The desilvering process may be effected either in a two-step process wherein a bleaching bath and a fixing bath are separately provided or in a non-step process wherein a blixing bath comprising a bleaching agent and a fixing agent is provided together to simplify or expedite the processing.
In recent years, color photographic light-sensitive materials have been commonly bleached with a ferric ion complex salt (e.g., aminopolycarboxylic acid ferric ion complex salt, and particularly ferric ethylenediaminetetraacetate complex salt) in order to shorten or simplify the processing and to prevent environmental pollution.
However, such a ferric ion complex salt is disadvantageous in that it has a relatively weak oxidizing power or an insufficient bleaching power. When such a bleaching agent is used to bleach or blix a slow speed silver halide color photographic material mainly comprising a silver bromochloride emulsion, the desired objectives are readily accomplished. However, when such a bleaching agent is used to process a color-sensitized high speed silver halide color photographic material mainly comprising a silver bromochloride or silver bromoiodide emulsion, and particularly color reversal or color negative materials comprising a high silver content emulsion, its insufficient bleaching power results in poor desilvering activity or a prolonged time for bleaching is thus required.
A color light-sensitive material normally uses a sensitizing dye for the purpose of color sensitization. Particularly, when high silver content grains or high aspect ratio tabular grains are used for higher sensitivity, a sensitizing dye adsorbed by the surface of silver halide impedes the bleaching of silver produced by development of the silver halide.
As a bleaching agent other than ferric ion complex salt, persulfate is well known. Persulfate is normally used as a bleaching solution comprising chloride. However, such persulfate bleaching solutions have even weaker bleaching power than ferric ion complex salts and thus require a remarkably prolonged time for bleaching.
In general, a nonpolluting bleaching agent or a bleaching agent which is not corrosive to machinery tends to have a weak bleaching power. It has therefore been desirable to enhance the bleaching ability of bleaching solutions or blixing solutions comprising a bleaching agent having a weak bleaching power, particularly that using a ferric ion complex salt or persulfate.
Processing methods using two or more ferric aminopolycarboxylate complex salts are described in Research Disclosure, No. 24023 (April, 1984), and JP-A-60-230653 (the term "JP-A" as used herein refers to a "published unexamined Japanese patent application"). However, these methods also leave much to be desired.
A ferric 1,3-diaminopropanetetraacetate complex is a bleaching agent having an excellent bleaching power which can be effectively used to shorten the desilvering process. However, a color-developed light-sensitive material is immediately processed with a bleaching solution comprising such a bleaching agent, resulting in a remarkable bleach fog. Accordingly, it has been desired to eliminate this problem.
On the other hand, examples of pyrazoloazole magenta couplers represented by formula (M-1) include couplers described in JP-A-59-162548, JP-A-60-43659, JP-A-59-171956, and JP-A-60-33552, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,061,432. Dyes formed from these couplers are particularly excellent. However, the use of such a coupler is disadvantageous in that a color developing agent tends to be left in the color photographic light-sensitive material following processing. In particular, when the process following the color development, i.e., desilvering, washing and/or stabilizing process is shortened, the light-sensitive material which has been thus processed tends to exhibit magenta stain (color intensification at the minimum magenta density portion). It has thus been desired to eliminate this problem.